Airlines always jockying for position there. Heathrow's slots seem to be most sought after of any major airport, now even one airline "might consider switching alliances" if it buys a competitor just to gain more access to that airport.

There are so many systematically important airports in the world (NRT, SYD, LAX, JFK, CDG, FRA etc)

It's a huge business hub with a huge population base that has a bunch of money. All of these things bring people in, and specifically business people, who are willing to spend money on travel. London is one of the worlds biggest business cities, so along with it comes a huge amount of high yielding travel, which a lot of airlines want in on.

It has to do with the old good British Empire and its colonies. There are still many political, business and personal ties to London making it a prime destination.
For decades US travelers to Europe picked London as their number one place to go and even when they go elsewhere they fly to London.

Because London is so important. London is, along with New York, basically at the center of the global economic system, and as such generates an astounding amount of air traffic demand and - importantly - an extremely high proportion of high-yielding, premium, business traffic demand. Airlines crave and seek this type of passenger who pays a high fare, and often. Given that, it's only natural that the airport in the region that is both (a) the largest, and (b) the closest to the city that can handle any major longhaul traffic, that airport is going to attract a disproportionately high level of attention from global airlines.

Airlines serving LHR normally generate higher yields than those serving other European hubs since a higher percentage of LHR traffic is O&D rather than connecting traffic. Yields on nonstop O&D routes are almost always higher than for traffic connecting through a hub since a nonstop is a better product, and when you connect through a hub you're normally competing with many other one-stop connections.

Carriers like KLM and Swiss wouldn't exist (or would be a tiny fraction of their current size) if they had to rely only on O&D traffic to/from the Netherlands and Switzerland. BA could survive quite well even if they carried nothing but O&D traffic to/from London.

As already mentioned, London is one of the world's major financial centers and thus attracts a higher proportion of high yield traffic paying the highest fares than most other airports.

I think the OP means why all the airlines flock to just LHR and not LGW or Stansted or Luton. I have wondered that as well. My guess is it would be the closest to the city center, besides LCY of course. But I've only been to London once and flew into LGW so I don't know much.

Quoting Viscount724 (Reply 5):Airlines serving LHR normally generate higher yields than those serving other European hubs since a higher percentage of LHR traffic is O&D rather than connecting traffic. .

Maybe that's it

Quoting TWA772LR (Reply 6):I think the OP means why all the airlines flock to just LHR and not LGW or Stansted or Luton

yes thank you, that's what I meant

As for London being a "financial hub" and the " center of the global economic universe", then why don't these airlines show the same enthusiam for LGW, Standted or Luton.

London and continental Europe straddle the middle of the financial day. Australia/Asia start the day, Europe are in the middle, the Americas at the end of the day. The London morning deals with the Asia/Australia end of day and the London afternoon deals with the Americas' morning - it's a position that is never going to change.

LHR just happens to be the most convenient airport for international flights in London.

As a capital London is unique in that not only is it the capital city, but also the centre of business and media.

The UK economy is heavily geared to London & The South East. GDP per head and the ratio of private sector employment to public sector employment is much higher than in the rest of the UK.

As well as being one of the world’s biggest financial centres, London is also a major player in the creative industries (fashion, advertising, television, music, print/publishing).

London, as well as Oxford and Cambridge, is also a popular choice for international students. It’s probably only one of a handful of cities that can truly claim be an international city and to be honest having lived/worked in and outside of London it’s almost a different country compared other parts of England.

Quoting TWA772LR (Reply 6):I think the OP means why all the airlines flock to just LHR and not LGW or Stansted or Luton.

My simplistic answer if this is what the OP really meant is that is the way the Brits want it.
The airports in the London city area are under their control, they have the ability to channel traffic where they see fit, including ensuring that their is sufficient ground transportation available to and from the city center and surrounding areas.
A lot of money has been spent on LHR, less so on the others, there are a few laws / rules that were put in place years ago to prevent expansion. BA had some split operation between LHR and LGW but for the most part I believe that was voluntary on the airlines part and not a mandate by the government to "rationalize" the air traffic situation.

I guess there is also something to be said about a single airport being so important versus saying a city and its airports are most important, a sense of pride somewhat. Looking at the debate on an additional runway at LHR and the continued growth expected in the industry, LHR will get more delays, larger a/c will be mandated thus either forcing smaller players from the market or pushing them into high risk strategies to get larger a/c specifically to serve one airport in their route structure, the airport may well become more exclusive and more in demand than at present.
One thing I do not see happening is a new airport or additional runways as long as traffic and interest remains, when those start falling off the topic will be seriously addressed.

With the amount of transit traffic BA get at LHR, it would struggle if it was just O/D traffic. Transfer traffic brings in once In a while more people thru the airport then are actually Joining In London at some peak periods. If the carrier was O/D only it would look very different then it does now.

There are many Brits for whom Heathrow is not important to them as passengers, most of these live outside London and some of them base their facts on what their parents or friends told them and they may have last visited in 1989, before T5 was built, before T4 was refurbished and before T2 was knocked down.

But out of the UK, most big carriers bring their customers to LHR. some have smaller aircraft operating to regions from their own hubs, but their is more scope and flexibility flying thru LHR, especially longhaul, to get to a lot of Euro and UK destinations. That can not be denied.

Quoting lhr380 (Reply 17):But out of the UK, most big carriers bring their customers to LHR. some have smaller aircraft operating to regions from their own hubs, but their is more scope and flexibility flying thru LHR, especially longhaul, to get to a lot of Euro and UK destinations. That can not be denied.

UK regional airports have

US carriers
Middle East carriers
Far East carriers
European carriers with hubs in France, The Netherlands and Germany.
bmibaby, easyJet, Jet2, and Ryanair and charter airlines all fly to Europe.

Many Brits away from Heathrow can fly from regional airports to many places in this world avoiding Heathrow.

Quoting eljonno (Reply 10):Yes. DL from ATL and US from CLT. Not sure why they haven't moved up the road to LHR though.

I can't speak for US, but to clarify, DL serves both airports with the only LGW service being a single ATL-LGW round-trip daily versus BOS, JFK (3x), ATL, MIA, MSP, and DTW service to LHR. There must be a business reason for continuing to serve Gatwick. Perhaps business travelers going to destinations just south of the city or very price-conscious leisure travelers and FF-ers redeeming SkyMiles (which would free up more seats on the LHR flight--particularly in J--that they can sell for cash instead on award tickets). ATL-LGW was also DL's first transatlantic flight, so perhaps there's some nostalgia at play, too.

Quoting lhr380 (Reply 17):But out of the UK, most big carriers bring their customers to LHR. some have smaller aircraft operating to regions from their own hubs, but their is more scope and flexibility flying thru LHR, especially longhaul, to get to a lot of Euro and UK destinations. That can not be denied.

It can on A.net.

Discounting transfer traffic (EK, EY etc) how many scheduled long-haul non-stop routes are there from airports outside of London ?

Couple of upholstered rollerskates to the east coast, UAE, VS to Vegas, Disney World.

That about it ?

Flying is like sex - I've never had all I wanted but occasionally I've had all I can stand.